Nearly 12 million immigrants went through Ellis Island’s immigration inspection station in its 60 years of operation, making it a significant part of the history of the United States. But have you ever wondered if Ellis Island resides within the confines of New Jersey or New York? If you have, you’re not alone – these two states squabbled over this land for years. Bob Marshall, special advisor to the Commissioner for Energy and the Environment, sits down with Bob Bostock to answer this decades-old debate over the rightful jurisdiction over Ellis Island. As Deputy Attorney General in the 1998 New Jersey v. New York United States Supreme Court case, the first trial ever held in the U.S. Supreme Court building, Bob Marshall played an integral role in the decision that the vast majority of Ellis Island is within the jurisdiction of New Jersey.
To learn more about Ellis Island, click here.
To learn more about the 1998 New Jersey v. New York United States Supreme Court case, click here.
To view the Ellis Island quarter, released as a part of the 2017 America the Beautiful Quarters® Program, click here.